Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante

Vincent "Chin" Gigante. He started out as a professional boxer - until he found his true calling as a ruthless contract killer. His doting mother's pet name for the boy evolved into his famous alias, "Chin", a nickname that struck fear throughout organized crime as he routinely ordered the murders of mobsters who violated the Mafia code. Vincent Gigante was hand-picked by Vito Genovese to run the Genovese Family when Vito was sent to prison. Chin raked in more than $100 million for the Genovese Family, all while evading federal investigators.

Al Capone: His Life, Legacy, and Legend

From his heyday to the present moment, Al Capone - Public Enemy Number One - has gripped popular imagination. Rising from humble Brooklyn roots, Capone went on to become the most infamous gangster in American history. At the height of Prohibition, his multimillion-dollar Chicago bootlegging, prostitution, and gambling operation dominated the organized-crime scene.

Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires

Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo, and Lucchese. For decades these Five Families ruled New York and built the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra) into an underworld empire. Today, the Mafia is an endangered species, battered and beleaguered by aggressive investigators, incompetent leadership, betrayals, and generational changes that produced violent, unreliable leaders and recruits.

The Murder of Sonny Liston: Las Vegas, Heroin, and Heavyweights

On January 5, 1971, Sonny Liston was found dead in his home - of an apparent heroin overdose. But no one close to Liston believed that his death was accidental. Digging deep into a life that Liston tried hard to hide, Shaun Assael treats the boxer's death as a cold case. The result is a riveting whodunit that evokes a glorious and grimy era of Las Vegas.

Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City

From its inception, Atlantic City has always been a town dedicated to the fast buck, and this wide-reachinghistory offers a riveting account of its past 100 year, from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era.

The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

Richard "The Ice Man" Kuklinski led a double life beyond anything ever seen on The Sopranos, becoming one of the most notorious professional assassins in American history while hosting neighborhood barbecues in suburban New Jersey. Now, after 240 hours of face-to-face interviews with Kuklinski and his wife and daughters, author Philip Carlo tells his extraordinary story.

The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia

Frank DiMatteo was born into a family of mob hit men. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldn't see or hear. He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him...and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell....

I Heard You Paint Houses: Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran and Closing the Case on Jimmy Hoffa

"I heard you paint houses" are the first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran. To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than 25 hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa.

Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss

Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the boss of New York's Lucchese crime family, was a Mafia superstar, responsible for more than 50 murders. Currently serving 13 life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado, Casso has given journalist and New York Times best-selling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen.

Mob Boss: The Life of Little Al D'arco, the Man Who Brought Down the Mafia

Alfonso "Little Al" D'Arco, the former acting boss of the Luchese crime family, was the highest-ranking mobster to ever turn government witness when he flipped in 1991. His decision to flip prompted many others to make the same choice, including John Gotti's top aide, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, and his testimony sent more than fifty mobsters to prison. In Mob Boss, award-winning news reporters Jerry Capeci and Tom Robbins team up for this unparalleled account of D'Arco's life.

When Corruption Was King: How I Helped the Mob Rule Chicago, Then Brought the Outfit Down

This is the story of a Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head, a man who has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like a church bell clapper - a turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school, and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's leading mobsters and corrupt political officials. With wild abandon he chased crooked acquittals for the likes of Pat Marcy, an Al Capone protégé, who had become the Mob's key political operative.

Steel Boat Iron Hearts: A U-boat Crewman's Life Aboard U-505

Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Hans Goebeler offers rich and personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Since his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler's perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all, from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during World War II.

Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra

Mafia Prince is the first-person account of one of the most violent eras in Mafia history - "Little" Nicky Scarfo’s reign as boss of the Philly family in the 1980s - written by Scarfo’s underboss and nephew, "Crazy" Phil Leonetti. The youngest-ever underboss at the age of 31, Leonetti was at the crux of the violent downfall of the traditional American Mafia in the 1980s when he infiltrated Atlantic City after gambling was legalized, and later turned state’s evidence against his own.

Confessions of an Undercover Agent: Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll of a Double Life

This true story of an ex-Marine who fought crime as an undercover cop, a narcotics agent, and finally a federal prosecutor spans a decade of crime fighting and narrow escapes. Charlie Spillers dealt with a remarkable variety of career criminals, including heroin traffickers, safecrackers, burglars, auto thieves, and members of Mafia and Mexican drug smuggling operations. In this riveting tale, the author recounts fascinating experiences and the creative methods he used to succeed and survive in a difficult and sometimes extremely dangerous underworld life.

The Confessions of Al Capone

In 1944 Al Capone, the most notorious Mob boss in history, has already been released from prison. Though Capone is no longer the enormously powerful force who dominated Chicago’s underworld for years, he is still a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover. The FBI chief knows that if he can somehow manage to get Capone to reveal details of crimes he and his Outfit committed, the Bureau has a good chance of nailing key members who now are active in the wartime black market.

American Desperado: My Life - From Mafia Soldier to Cocaine Cowboy to Secret Government Asset

In 2008 veteran journalist Evan Wright, acclaimed for his New York Times best-selling book Generation Kill and co-writer of the Emmy-winning HBO series it spawned, began a series of conversations with super-criminal Jon Roberts, star of the fabulously successful documentary Cocaine Cowboys. Those conversations would last three years, during which time Wright came to realize that Roberts was much more than the de-facto “transportation chief” of the Medellin Cartel during the 1980s, much more than a facilitator of a national drug epidemic.

Federal Agent Robert Mazur spent five years undercover as a money launderer to the international underworld, gaining access to the zenith of a criminal hierarchy safeguarded by a circle of dirty bankers and businessmen who quietly shape power across the globe. These men and women control multibillion-dollar drug-trafficking empires, running their organizations like public companies.

The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York

Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s.

Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde

With dramatic flair, Jeff Guinn delivers the definitive portrait of Bonnie and Clyde. These media-savvy outlaws appealed to America's Depression-era hunger for swashbuckling characters. Glowing radio and newspaper reports transformed these "public enemies" into celebrities - much like the cinema gangsters of the time.

The Lufthansa Heist: Behind the Six-million Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World

On December 11th, 1978, a daring armed robbery rocked Kennedy Airport, resulting in the largest unrecovered cash haul in world history, totaling six million dollars. The perpetrators were never apprehended and thirteen people connected to the crime were murdered in homicides that, like the crime itself, remain unsolved to this day. The burglary has fascinated the public for years, dominating headlines around the globe due to the story's unending ravel of mysteries that baffled the authorities.

Too Pretty to Live: The Catfishing Murders of East Tennessee

When Bill Payne and Billie Jean Hayworth began their romance, they unknowingly set in motion a diabolical plot that would end with them murdered in their own home, Hayworth holding their mercifully unharmed infant. Chris was a CIA agent who was concerned about Jenelle. Seeing the cyberbullying she had endured, and worried for her safety, Chris got in touch with Jenelle's protective parents and her devoted boyfriend, warning them that Payne and Hayworth were a danger to Jenelle.

Black Mass: Whitey Bulger, The FBI, and a Devil's Deal

In this gritty New York Times best-seller, the true story of a crooked deal between the FBI and the Irish Mob is exposed. By providing a penetrating look into the mean streets of mid-1970s South Boston, the author shows how two kids from the neighborhood cross paths again years later, ending in the biggest informant scandal in FBI history.

The Myth of the Lost Cause: Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won

The former Confederate states have continually mythologized the South's defeat to the North, depicting the Civil War as unnecessary, or as a fight over states' Constitutional rights, or as a David v. Goliath struggle in which the North waged "total war" over an underdog South. In The Myth of the Lost Cause, historian Edward Bonekemper deconstructs this multi-faceted myth, revealing the truth about the war that nearly tore the nation apart 150 years ago.

Audible Editor Reviews

Get Capone by Jonathan Eig, an atmospheric biography of the iconic gangster is subtitled, somewhat misleadingly, The Secret Plot to Get America’s Most Wanted Gangster. The book’s true focus is not the endgame of Capone’s criminal saga, but the glory days of his career in Prohibition Chicago.

Narrator Dick Hill sounds like a Chicago ‘wise guy’ who saw the whole thing unfolding from a corner bar; his flat accent and hearty delivery convey Capone and company’s style and swagger. Eig charts the kingpin’s rise, beginning with his 1923 arrival from Brooklyn, following mentor Johnny Torrid, but he  and Hill  are in no rush. There are countless stops to smell the coffee  or Mama Capone’s cooking. (Eig’s description of the matriarch making braciole, the Italian beef dish, is reason enough to whip some up.) In depicting the characters in Capone’s world, from rival Diamond Jim (James Colosimo) to club doorman, we are likely to be told the shape of one’s facial features, the color of another’s tie.

Hill, like a veteran of the jaded city to a tourist, relates the backdrop of Chicago politics and the post-WWI Roaring Twenties hedonism that Prohibition sought to temper but only stoked. He is at his best when he robustly gives us Capone in the gangster’s words. We are able to perceive, beyond his brute acumen in bootlegging and mob management, Capone’s mastery of the media that made him an international celebrity, the inspiration for countless Hollywood movies, and the archetypal gangster you hate to love. Extolling family values and the pleasure of an innocent glass of beer, he’d tell the press, “I’m just a businessman…All l do is satisfy a public demand.” Hill conveys, by playing it straight, the irony in Capone’s statements praising those honest judges and prosecutors out to get him  in contrast to the myriad officials he is able to bribe or threaten.

Federal and local authorities finally succeed in putting Capone away for tax evasion. But by the time of his release, Eig shows us  graphically  the advance of syphilis that would kill him at age 48 has set in. Despite the book’s historical accuracy, the cumulative effect of the author’s detail and Hill’s enthusiastic rendition are insistent that we, once again, admire the Capone legend. Elly Schull Meeks

Publisher's Summary

Acclaimed journalist and best-selling author Jonathan Eig blows the lid off the Al Capone story. Based on never-before-seen government documents and newly discovered letters written by Al Capone himself, Get Capone presents America's greatest gangster as you’ve never seen him before.

In addition to IRS files, Eig got hold of the personal papers of the U.S. attorney in Chicago who prosecuted Capone. He even found family members who would share stories about their notorious relative. The author, a former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, brings his uncompromising standards for research and his superb knack for storytelling to one of the most thrilling stories in American history. This eye-opening biography reveals that Capone was the target of one of the most intense criminal investigations in American history - with orders coming directly from the White House. Capone flaunted his criminal success so openly that President Hoover insisted the gangster be stopped. And, despite his many misdeeds, Capone may have been the victim of a rigged trial.

Get Capone also offers a bold new theory to explain the Valentine's Day Massacre and sheds new light on Capone's connection - or lack thereof - to the crime.

Jonathan Eig superbly tells the tale of a man whose legend still permeates Chicago. Working with a compelling script, the narrator does an excellent job of bringing to life Capone, his crew and the cast of local and federal government officials who interact with him.

Eig does a masterful job of re-creating the Roaring Twenties and detailing Capone's exploits. At the same time, he methodically examines the crimes that have long been attributed to Capone. Relying on his dogged reporting skills, Eig adds texture to some events, while persuasively debunking others.

This is one of those books that will have listeners looking for excuses to take errands so they can listen to just a few more minutes. Great yarn!

This book had alot of facts like, names, dates, street names, cities, etc. So many it was hard to remember them all and keep it all straight. I also think it wasn't written in completely chronological order (confusing). To me the most interesting part was the epilogue. It would have been nice to have heard Capone's life story in his words and from his point of view. I think that is what I was looking for.

The cool thing about this book is the perspective I got on how different everything was in the 20's and 30's. Jonathan Eig has a knack for choosing the facts to include in a way that tells a good story, and omitting unnessesary, boring details. It's wild to imagine a prominant criminal in today's world being so adored by the press and the general public. It's also amazing how primitive forensic science was back then. You could just kill someone, and if you just left the state forever, you probably would never get caught. Makes me wonder how much crime was going on back then that we didn't know about.

The narrator chosen for this book is not the most talented I've ever heard. His style is a little corny and he makes every character, even Herbert Hoover and J. Edgar Hoover, sound like Italian mobsters. Still, I think he was the right choice for this book. He's got a good feel for the story.

Although I basically agree with the other reviews I have found this no where as enjoyable as I thought it would be after seeing an interview with the author. This book reads more like a news article than a story and although that gives a lot of interesting information it can be tedious at times. Add to that the reader doesn't really have the right tone to make some of the limited dialog interesting, and I find myself only able to listen to it for around an hour art a time before I start getting sleepy from it...And when operating 40 tons of tractor and trailer getting sleepy isn't what I'm looking for. Someone like Joe Montagna who reads audio might have made this more interesting, but as is I'm just not that impressed with it....Lesson learned though...Don't purchase without listening to the sample first. If the reader doesn't sit right with you then it can be a tough listen for all those hours.....

Who has not heard of Al Capone and Elliot Ness, sometimes to excess but the views presented by this author make this one hard to stop listening to? The book gets right into his nefarious past and at times actually has you feeling almost sorry for him. A brutal criminal that if it were not for the IRS he could have written a book on how to be a professional criminal and get away with a plethora of crimes.I wish the IRS had as many imaginative techniques to nail all the drug dealers running lose.

Have you listened to any of Dick Hill’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. He's always pretty good.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Any additional comments?

This is an extremely detailed book about Capone. If you're interested in knowing everything there is to know about him, this is for you. I really didn't want to now that much, so I skipped through chapters. The ending was the best part of the book.

The story line is the best part and the reason I purchased the book. It's not like a new read. There have been hundreds of publications and movies generated in whole or in part from Capone's life or legacy. I don't know what the addictive element is but I never tire of the Capone like and era stories. There was a little bit of additional information in this book but overall, it was another recycle of already recycled material.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I didn't have a reaction to the ending because, after all, we all know how it ends before we begin Chapter 1.

Did Dick Hill do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I did not care for the narrator. All the characters had almost the same tone, sound, and it was almost monotone. At times, the narration made me feel as though I was dredging mud. I would just as soon have been, too. Actually, I think maybe I might have groaned out loud a couple of times because of how the narrator droned.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

There are better books and movies already published about Capone. I would not go see a movie based on this book and have a hard time imaging it as a blockbuster.

Any additional comments?

While the book was not a waste of time, it was not a good investment. I have only so much time set aside for pleasure reading so I want the books I choose to have value and impact. Capone fell way short of that expectation. I wouldn't buy it again if I could undo my purchase nor would I read it again if I could undo my reading of Capone.